Baltimore Ravens Should Trade for Marlon Mack

Author: Max Greenberg

The Baltimore Ravens recently suffered a huge blow to their offense, as JK Dobbins was injured in their most recent preseason game and is now out for the season with a torn ACL. The second year pro out of Ohio State took over as the team’s lead back as the 2020 season progressed, and had high upside as the backfield workhorse this year.

With how much the Ravens depend on running the ball, this loss is going to hurt them badly. Whether or not you want to blame the help around him, Lamar Jackson has had some inconsistencies as a passer, and if he does not fix them, this offense could become quite one-dimensional.

It will be tough to replace Dobbins’ production no matter what, but they may have a chance to at least soften the blow of losing him. Their front office needs to be on their feet and looking into acquiring Marlon Mack from the Indianapolis Colts.

Mack’s 2020 season unfortunately came to an early end when he suffered a torn achilles in Week 1, but prior to that, he was showing real promise. He was part of a backfield tandem with Nyheim Hines and became a 1000+ yard rusher in 2019.

At this point in his career, he is 25 and still has plenty of years of good football in him. And he could use a fresh start, as he has seemingly fallen out of place with his current team.

He was willing to come back on a one-year deal for some reason, but at best, he will split a secondary role with Hines, as Jonathan Taylor has emerged as the clear workhorse for the Colts. And even then, Frank Reich might opt to use Hines because he provides the receiving and elusive element that Mack does not.

Mack could come into Baltimore and be their number one running back. Again, I am not saying that he would come in and replace what Dobbins was supposed to do, but he can at least be serviceable, if not more than that. I do not have confident that any other running back on the Ravens could.

It would also cost them virtually nothing. What would they have to give up? A fifth rounder? Maybe?

This trade would honestly be a win for both clubs and the player himself, so why not pull the trigger?

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Summer League Standouts

Author: Jack Gordon

Editor: Fran Attie

After a 2020 NBA season without a Summer League, all 30 teams came back to Las Vegas in 2021 so we could watch lottery picks, developing sophomores and NBA hopefuls duke it out to display their abilities before the season begins. It’s always interesting to see how young players perform in Summer League and see how teams did in the draft, so here are just a couple non-lottery standouts:

The Brooklyn Nets got a potential steal in Cam Thomas at the end of the first round. Thomas fell a little later in the draft than some expected, but the Nets got him at good value, considering that something we knew he could do is score. He led the SEC in scoring last season at LSU, and lit up Las Vegas, leading all scorers with 27 points per game, including an impressive 36 point outburst against the San Antonio Spurs. He does boast a fairly unattractive 2 assists and 3.8 turnovers per game, but not only is that not particularly worrisome in Summer League (almost every player is extremely young and inexperienced, meaning that lots of players have underdeveloped decision-making abilities resulting in poor assist-to-turnover ratios), but it’s not particularly worrisome for the Nets either, because all they would need from him is scoring off the bench. This is not to say that Thomas is guaranteed any playing time behind the immense guard talent in front of him in Brooklyn, but considering that he has shown good shot-making ability, the Nets continue to dominate the offseason with their draft picks and signings, most notably with the Patty Mills acquisition.

After a terrible season without James Harden, the Houston Rockets also have a couple rookies to be excited about with Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun. Green, along with many other lottery picks this year, has shown his potential to be an elite scorer in this league and a potential All-Star. But for the Rockets to be able to pick up Sengun at the 16th spot in the draft was also a win, considering how skilled he is and the fact he was dominating grown men in the Turkish League at just 18 years old. His free-throw routine will make him a crowd favorite right away, and it's just clear that mobile big guys with the skill to put the ball on the floor and who are adored by analytics people are probably a decent bet.

It will be interesting to see how Sengun works out compared to the many talented guards taken in this draft. Year after year, we are seeing rim-running big men become less and less valuable compared to skilled guards and ball handlers. Usually there is space for one of these players per team, and there are many of these players available. Thus, maybe it is a loss of value to draft a player like Jaxson Hayes in the lottery unless a team thinks they have the chance to be a franchise cornerstone, like Evan Mobley this year. Someone like Sengun has a more useful skill set, and even someone like Luka Garza was able to earn a two-way contract with the Pistons, despite being taken so late in the draft, because of the tenacity and shooting he displayed.

Finally, the Atlanta Hawks also have to be pretty pleased with what they’ve seen from Jalen Johnson, the 20th pick, and Shariffe Cooper, the 48th. Both players were taken with decent value in the draft given that they had significant talent but reasonable question marks. Nonetheless, both players have shown solid NBA potential with the athleticism of Johnson and the playmaking of Cooper, and they will be nice additions to the young Atlanta roster that just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

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Zack Wilson Did Not Disappoint

Author: Zachary Patlin

Editor: Brian Symons

The much-anticipated debut of the number 2 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft has finally arrived. On Saturday, August 14, the NY Jets played their first preseason game of 2021 against their crosstown rival NY Giants. This preseason game was also the coaching debut of Robert Saleh as head coach of the Jets, and the Jets’ performance did not disappoint.

After the opening kickoff to the NY Giants, the Jets defense committed a three-and-out, capped off by a sack by OLB Bryce Huff. The giants went on to punt, as Zack Wilson took the field for the first time in competition against another team in his Jets career.

After a long run play by Ty Johnson following Mechi Becton for 11 yards started off the drive, Mike Lafleur called for the first pass play, and it was a designed rollout for Wilson who hit Corey Davis in stride for 9 yards. In his first career pass attempt, the Jets offensive coordinator put Wilson in a position to succeed, as they allowed him to comfortably roll out to his right behind the O-line and make a throw he has made consistently for years at BYU.

The key to Zack Wilson’s rookie season will depend on two major keys: The first being that the offensive line is able to give him time in the pocket to get his reads and make the right decision without being under heavy pressure. The second is having the coaching staff put him in comfortable play calls that put him in a position to succeed, and they did just that in Saturday night’s opener.

After a couple of third down conversions on the opening drive, the Jets moved into field goal range and converted to take a 3-0 lead. Wilson’s first drive went as planned and he made a couple of plays that showed a lot of promise in his young career.

The second, and final drive played by Wilson in this game, began at their own 9 yard-line. Wilson completed 4 passes on this drive and took the ball into enemy territory, including a 16-yard beautiful throw over the middle to newly acquired Keelan Cole. The Jets, however, did not convert on a 4th and 1 inside of Giants territory and turned the ball over on downs. This signified the end to a short but sweet night for Zack Wilson, showing promise for the future.

There were a few key takeaways from Zack Wilson’s performance on Saturday night and for the most part, they were very positive. Zack was able to make throws in the pocket and rolling out to his right, and the protection was strong enough in front of him to not have to improvise during the two drives. Wilson also made a couple of big throws on third down to move the chains and allow the offense to continue to settle in. The second preseason game will be key to see if he learned anything from the first game, and how we will continuously improve and gain the confidence to take on the Panthers and former Jets QB, Sam Darnold, in week one.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE